Technology
Each Penguin drum shell is constructed of three basic elements:
- 6-ply maple rings at each end provide a durable bearing edge.
- 9-ply birch collars with imbedded metal inserts receive the tension rods, thus eliminating the need for lugs. Lugs affect the way a shell resonates and can dampen some frequencies, lugs can also ring with unwanted frequencies that can be picked up by sensitive recording microphones.
- The 3-ply birch "Maxi-shell" center section is 2 inches larger in diameter than the head size. With the increased interior volume that this provides, you can have a drum that is shallower in depth for a tight attack without sacrificing the dynamic range that you’d get with a deeper drum. And with the collars taking the head tension, the "Maxi-shells" are free to resonate. They have been kept thin (1/8") to enhance the fundamental frequency and will deliver a rich, warm tone.
The "Egg Basket" mounting system is designed to simplify drum and cymbal mounting and allow quick setup and tear down. Bass, snare, up to three toms and up to four cymbals can be mounted on a single, small footprint stand.
The bass drum is suspended at the batter side collar of the drum with two T-screw fasteners that lock into slots in the wood base. The shell is therefore free to resonate since it has no legs on the front side. The “Egg Basket” stand is available in three sizes, for 20”, 18”, and 16” bass drums and it raises the bass drum off of the ground to ensure that the beater hits near the center of the head. The 16” is higher than the 18” and the 18” is higher than the 20”.A post (1˝" diameter) rises from the wood base on each side of the bass drum. Special "grabbers” clamp to the posts and hold the tom arms and cymbal booms. The grabbers rotate on the posts and tilt for maximum positioning flexibility of drums and cymbals and can be stacked for multiple mounts. The posts and T-legs clamp to a laminated wood cross-piece to form a sturdy, balanced stand.
Drum mounts
The toms are mounted by standard L-rod style brackets bolted to the shell (alloy R.I.M.S. hangers are available on Penguin Series (non-nesting) toms). The shell-mounted bracket will not cause distortion of the bearing edge (as with most conventional shell-mounted drum shells).Snare drums are also available with a clamp (standard in nesting series) for mounting to a tom arm on the Egg Basket. This offers increased sustain and resonance over mounting the drum on a snare stand. You'll also free up leg space and lighten your hardware load.